Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

"Keep up!" The low shout resounded in everyone's minds.

Chen Xueqing's emerald lotus-like light domain contracted forcefully, tightly enveloping the team. Her purifying power transformed into the most resilient membrane, resisting the erosion and piercing of the divine souls by the gale. Wang Cheng roared, his chaotic bone arm erupting with a dark golden light, like the strongest shield, protecting the team from the densest impact of the physical gale. Mo Heng, meanwhile, focused on maintaining the stability of the simulation model, providing Yu Changsheng with corrective coordinates.

Ling Wuying and Gui Yinzi completely transformed into two twisted shadows, moving close to the jagged rocks and huge animal bone fragments on the ground, suppressing their presence and aura to the lowest possible level.

The gale-force winds swept through the air like the intestines of a raging beast. Every step felt like walking on a knife's edge. Yu Changsheng's figure flickered, sometimes appearing in the hollow of the giant bone on the left, sometimes beneath a floating black boulder on the right. He guided the group through the chasm of destruction. An invisible spatial fold spread silently, threatening to engulf Mo Heng, when Yu Changsheng suddenly whirled around and unleashed a palm strike!
"Certainly!"

The Chaos Emperor's blood, mixed with the power of spatial laws, surged forth. It did not clash head-on, but rather, like the most nimble fingers, gently flicked the "joint" where the folds were about to close! The violent spatial folds were actually deflected by this skillful force, narrowly grazing Mo Heng's clothes, and silently cleaved a small mountain-sized piece of glazed rock in two, the cross-section as smooth as a mirror!

Cold sweat instantly soaked through Mo Heng's back. "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Wang Cheng, however, encountered a more direct impact. A black column of wind, condensed to the point of being substantial and as thick as a giant python, accompanied by a piercing shriek and countless spinning, sharp crystal chips, slammed straight at his chest! There was no way to avoid it!

"Roar!" Bloodshot appeared in Wang Cheng's eyes. Instead of retreating, his Chaos Bone Arm advanced, his five fingers spread wide, and dark golden light condensed into a giant shield phantom covered with ancient chaotic runes, fiercely meeting the attack!
boom--! ! !
A deafening explosion! The glazed rock beneath Wang Cheng's feet shattered! His massive body shuddered violently, his legs sinking into the ground up to his knees! Crimson-gold blood spilled from his mouth and nose. The solid, runic shield phantom was riddled with cracks, groaning under the strain. Most horrifyingly, a large patch of dark-gold scales had been scraped off the tip of his bony arm, revealing even deeper, dark-gold bone beneath, flowing with chaotic energy! Several fine cracks on the bone fragments were shockingly obvious!
"Wang Cheng!" Chen Xueqing exclaimed, and a condensed azure lotus divine light instantly entered Wang Cheng's body, stabilizing his turbulent blood and damaged meridians.

"I'm fine! I can still hold on!" Wang Cheng roared, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. He forcefully pulled his legs out of the rock strata, his bony arms trembling as dark golden light once again covered his wounds. However, the light seemed more restrained than before, faintly revealing a sharp edge that had risen from the ashes. "This ghostly wind is powerful! Let's go again!"

The brush with death lasted for an unknown amount of time, seemingly an eternity. When the last gust of turbulent wind that tore through space was deflected by Yu Changsheng with the Annihilation Sword and slammed into a huge star beast skull to the side, shattering it to pieces, the scene ahead suddenly changed.

The wind stopped. Or rather, it was bound and tamed by some invisible force.

A vast, unimaginably large, bowl-shaped valley appeared before them. The valley wasn't lifeless; instead, it was filled with a viscous, heavy, slowly swirling black current. This current, like liquid ink or solidified darkness, was the very "Black Wind" that Bone Owl remembered so vividly. It flowed silently through the valley, devouring light and radiating a chilling, bone-deep cold. Any attempt to probe it with divine sense was like sinking a stone into the ocean, instantly swallowed and frozen by the viscous darkness.

This is the real Black Wind Valley!
Beneath the slowly flowing, light-devouring, viscous black wind, deep within the valley, faint yet exceptionally brilliant silver-blue lights stubbornly pierced the darkness, flickering uncertainly like fragments of stars embedded in black jade. That light contained a breathtakingly pure stellar power, and a strange rhythm that stabilized the spatial structure.

Star Source Mine!

"Found it!" Gui Yinzi's voice trembled with barely suppressed excitement and a hint of greed as he pointed to the bottom of the valley. His cultivation technique had a subtle connection with the deathly stillness of this place, and he was particularly eager for the source of the stars.

However, before the crowd could get close...

“Woo—ah—!”

Several shrill, ferocious, inhuman roars suddenly erupted from behind the massive skeletal hill to the side! Immediately afterward, three enormous black shadows, carrying a strong stench of blood and malevolent energy, shot out like cannonballs!

Those were three ferocious star beasts resembling giant wolves, yet covered entirely in obsidian-like carapaces! They were as large as elephants, with sharp bone spikes at their joints, long, narrow heads, exposed fangs, and scarlet eyes fixed intently on the group. Most terrifying of all was the black, malevolent aura emanating from them, which subtly resonated with the black winds flowing through the valley, forming a flowing armor!

"Black Fiend Star Wolves! Mid-stage Void Refinement! Beware of their fiendish armor and black wind manipulation!" Mo Heng instantly retrieved the information from his ancient memories and issued a stern warning. Before his words even finished, the three star wolves had already pounced in a triangular formation! They clearly regarded the intruders as prey invading their territory.

The largest star wolf leader, its scarlet eyes locked onto Yu Changsheng, who possessed the strongest aura. Its massive maw opened wide, and a condensed, black lightning-like breath, filled with countless wails and vengeful phantoms, tore through the viscous air, aiming straight for Yu Changsheng's face! Wherever the breath passed, the space sizzled as it was corroded.

Yu Changsheng's eyes turned cold. He did not draw the Annihilation Sword, but simply pointed his fingers like a sword. A purple-gold sword aura, condensed to the extreme, instantly pierced out, carrying the imperial might of opening up chaos and repelling all laws, and accurately struck the core of the baleful breath!

laugh--!
Like a red-hot iron piercing through ice, the purple-gold sword energy surged forth with unstoppable force, instantly piercing the black breath and forcibly annihilating and purifying the vengeful and malevolent power it contained! Its momentum undiminished, it aimed straight for the Star Wolf leader's brow!
A look of horror flashed across the Star Wolf leader's eyes, and its head snapped to the side! *Thud!* The purple-gold sword energy grazed its hard skull, leaving a deep scorch mark that revealed bone and burned with purple-gold flames! It let out a painful howl, its massive body staggered as the immense force contained in the sword energy propelled it forward.

At the same time, the other two star wolves pounced. One, its claws wreathed in viscous black wind, tore through space as it reached for Wang Cheng's head! The other opened its massive jaws, a powerful suction force enveloping Chen Xueqing, attempting to drag her into the abyss filled with fangs!
"You're courting death!" Wang Cheng roared like thunder, his still-healing Chaos Bone Arm unleashing unprecedented ferocity! He didn't dodge or evade, his cracked bone arm clenched tightly with his five fingers, the crimson-gold power of his domineering blood mixed with the killing intent honed on the battlefield, condensing into a phantom of a Chaos gauntlet covered in spikes, fiercely meeting the tearing black wind claws head-on!
Boom!

Fists and claws clashed! A violent surge of energy exploded! The ground beneath Wang Cheng's feet cracked and sank again, but he did not retreat an inch! The Star Wolf's claws were actually bent and deformed by the force of the blow, and the black wind and evil energy covering them were forcibly dispersed by the power of the Blood Overlord! The Star Wolf let out a painful howl of shock and anger.

On the other side, Chen Xueqing remained calm as the gigantic maw lunged at her. The illusory image of the Pure Lotus solidified and bloomed before her. The lotus petals swirled gently, and a seemingly fragile yet indestructible emerald light barrier appeared. "Purifying Domain - Lotus Wall!"

The giant wolf's suction force struck the light barrier as if hitting a wall of sighs, instantly vanishing without a trace. At the same time, a sliver of clear light shot out from the lotus heart, precisely entering the giant wolf's wide-open mouth.

"Awooo—!" The star wolf let out a shrill, distorted howl as if it had swallowed a red-hot iron. Its massive body writhed in agony, and wisps of smoke, scorched by the power of purification, billowed from its mouth.

Ling Wuying's figure appeared like a ghost in the shadow of the Star Wolf's exposed belly as it pounced on Chen Xueqing! The Void Metal Prosthetic Arm, like the most deadly fang, gleamed with a deathly light, silently piercing the Star Wolf's relatively soft abdominal carapace! The destructive force of the Void Finger instantly poured into its internal organs!
"Ugh..." Star Wolf's miserable howl stopped abruptly. His massive body convulsed violently a few times before crashing to the ground, his life extinguished.

Gui Yinzi then made a hand seal, and the shadow beneath his feet spread out like a living thing, wrapping around the star wolf that Wang Cheng had knocked back and whose claws were injured. The Yin energy transformed into chains with barbs, attempting to bind its movements, interfere with the flow of its evil energy, and create an opportunity for Wang Cheng to kill it.

The battle erupted in an instant and was about to end in the blink of an eye. However, just as Yu Changsheng forced back the Star Wolf leader with his sword, Wang Cheng and Chen Xueqing suppressed the other two, Ling Wuying completed the kill, and Gui Yinzi assisted in controlling the situation—

A sudden change occurred!

"Hmph! How dare you! You actually kill the guard dog trained by my Blackstar Fortress?"

A cold, hoarse sound, like two rough bones rubbing together, suddenly rang out in the valley! The sound wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling pressure that pierced the soul, instantly drowning out the roar of the battle and clearly reaching everyone's ears!

Accompanied by the sound, an overwhelming pressure, far more terrifying and profound than the three star wolves combined, descended like a bottomless abyss! This pressure was filled with violence, greed, and an indifference that controlled life and death!

The viscous black wind seemed to be summoned by something, surging violently and converging and swirling high in the sky behind the group, forming a huge black vortex. At the center of the vortex, space slightly distorted, and a figure slowly stepped out.

The newcomer was tall and gaunt, shrouded in a wide cloak seemingly woven from countless tiny black scales. The hood hung low, obscuring most of his face, revealing only a sharp, pale chin. In his hand rested a jet-black bone staff, topped with an enormous, constantly spinning, and eerily suction-like crystal. The aura emanating from that staff was of the same origin as that of the Bone Owl's staff, but a hundred times more powerful and malevolent!
What's most chilling is the spiritual pressure that naturally emanates from his body, like an invisible shackle that instantly imprisoned the flow of spiritual energy in most areas of the valley! Those at the Void Refinement Realm are like fireflies before the bright moon!
Integration Stage! Lord of Black Star Fortress—Black Fiend Old Demon!

Behind him, dozens of figures emerged from the vortex of black wind. Their auras were at least at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, with several others displaying powerful fluctuations of the early and mid-stages of the Void Refinement realm! Like the most loyal hyenas, they silently dispersed, instantly blocking all possible escape routes, firmly trapping Yu Changsheng and his six companions, along with the two injured and struggling star wolves, at the edge of the valley!

A chilling killing intent mixed with greedy gazes pierced the crowd like tangible steel needles. Their target was the alluring mineral vein shimmering with starlight deep within the valley, and the "broken sword" in Yu Changsheng's hand—a sword that could evoke even a hint of apprehension from the Black Fiend Demon.

"Relinquish the mine, offer up that sword, and these two girls," the Black Fiend Old Demon slowly raised his pale finger, pointing at Chen Xueqing and the Ghost Yinzi hidden in the shadows through the shadows of his hood. His voice carried an indifferent air of dominating life and death, "This lord of the fortress might show mercy and grant you a chance to become slaves of my Black Star mine. Otherwise..." The black crystal at the tip of his bone staff suddenly lit up, and a terrifying suction force erupted, forcibly pulling a large swath of viscous black wind into the crystal. Inside the crystal, it seemed as if countless vengeful spirits were wailing and howling, "Destroyed body and soul, forever imprisoned in the Black Star Prison!"

The pressure from the Nascent Soul stage cultivator crashed down like a towering mountain! Wang Cheng groaned, his forcibly straightened spine creaking under the immense pressure, and the cracks on his Chaos Bone Arm seemed to widen further. The azure lotus light barrier in front of Chen Xueqing fluctuated violently, its emerald glow reduced to a thin layer. Mo Heng's face turned deathly pale, and most of the runes he had deduced instantly crumbled. Ling Wuying and Gui Yinzi's figures twisted violently in the shadows, as if they would be crushed by the terrifying spiritual pressure at any moment.

The shadow of death has never been so heavy!

However, in this suffocating predicament, the Annihilation Sword in Yu Changsheng's hand suddenly emitted an unprecedented movement!
Om-!
It was no longer the greedy tremor of craving star source ore, but a... warning! A violent buzzing sound, as if facing a natural enemy, filled with deep fear and warning! The sword was cold, and deep within the huge crack that ran through the spine of the sword, dark red divine patterns writhed wildly like dying venomous snakes, conveying a fear that came from instinct!

Yu Changsheng's Emperor Soul power instantly sank into the core gray dot of the Returning Void Star Orbit Compass at the sword's edge. The gray dot pulsated at an unprecedented speed, piercing through the terrifying pressure of the Black Fiend Old Demon, ignoring the alluring light of the Star Source Mine below, and pointing directly to the deepest part of Black Wind Valley, the core source of the Star Source Mine!

An extremely blurry and distorted image was forcibly projected into Yu Changsheng's consciousness:

Beneath the most dazzling silver-blue light of the Star Origin Mine, deep within countless pure stellar energies and spatial crystals… lies a nameless “core.” It is not ore, but more like an… “egg”? An embryo, slowly pulsating, born from the purest stellar essence and eternal stillness!
An even more ancient, colder, and deeper will than the Black Fiend Demon, seemingly originating from the very source of star destruction, is slowly awakening along with the fluctuations in the Star Origin Mine's energy!
The source of the fear of the Sword of Annihilation was not the Black Fiend Old Demon, but the unknown entity deep within the mine that was about to emerge! Its awakening fluctuations were extremely weak at the moment, but they were keenly detected by the power of the True Key, which was also the source of "Annihilation"!

A powerful enemy at the Integration Stage is eyeing them covetously ahead, while an unknown terror is about to awaken deep within the mine!
Yu Changsheng gripped the trembling, warning sword of annihilation, his knuckles turning white from the force. His deep, abyss-like purple-gold eyes swept over the figure of the Black Fiend Old Demon shrouded in the shadow of his cloak, and seemed to pierce through the viscous black wind and the dazzling star source veins, seeing the "Egg of the Death Star" pulsating deep within. A chillingly cold, yet utterly insane, smile slowly curved his lips.

The real life-or-death game has only just begun. (End of Chapter)